scholarly journals A critical review of the robustness of the UK government’s Air Quality Plan and expected compliance dates

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Williams ◽  
J. H. Barnes ◽  
T. J. Chatterton ◽  
E. T. Hayes ◽  
J. W. S. Longhurst
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Expected Compliance

scholarly journals Modelling the impact of megacities on local, regional and global tropospheric ozone and the deposition of nitrogen species

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 12215-12231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. S. Stock ◽  
M. R. Russo ◽  
T. M. Butler ◽  
A. T. Archibald ◽  
M. G. Lawrence ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Chemical Environment ◽  
Ozone Production ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Local Emissions

Abstract. We examine the effects of ozone precursor emissions from megacities on present-day air quality using the global chemistry–climate model UM-UKCA (UK Met Office Unified Model coupled to the UK Chemistry and Aerosols model). The sensitivity of megacity and regional ozone to local emissions, both from within the megacity and from surrounding regions, is important for determining air quality across many scales, which in turn is key for reducing human exposure to high levels of pollutants. We use two methods, perturbation and tagging, to quantify the impact of megacity emissions on global ozone. We also completely redistribute the anthropogenic emissions from megacities, to compare changes in local air quality going from centralised, densely populated megacities to decentralised, lower density urban areas. Focus is placed not only on how changes to megacity emissions affect regional and global NOx and O3, but also on changes to NOy deposition and to local chemical environments which are perturbed by the emission changes. The perturbation and tagging methods show broadly similar megacity impacts on total ozone, with the perturbation method underestimating the contribution partially because it perturbs the background chemical environment. The total redistribution of megacity emissions locally shifts the chemical environment towards more NOx-limited conditions in the megacities, which is more conducive to ozone production, and monthly mean surface ozone is found to increase up to 30% in megacities, depending on latitude and season. However, the displacement of emissions has little effect on the global annual ozone burden (0.12% change). Globally, megacity emissions are shown to contribute ~3% of total NOy deposition. The changes in O3, NOx and NOy deposition described here are useful for quantifying megacity impacts and for understanding the sensitivity of megacity regions to local emissions. The small global effects of the 100% redistribution carried out in this study suggest that the distribution of emissions on the local scale is unlikely to have large implications for chemistry–climate processes on the global scale.

scholarly journals Air quality changes in cities during the COVID-19 lockdown: A critical review

2021 ◽  
pp. 105823
Author(s):  
Max G. Adam ◽  
Phuong T.M. Tran ◽  
Rajasekhar Balasubramanian
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Quality Changes

scholarly journals Investigation of vehicle cold start primary NO2 emissions inferred from ambient monitoring data in the UK and their implications for urban air quality

2019 ◽  
Vol 199 ◽  
pp. 402-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasileios N. Matthaios ◽  
Louisa J. Kramer ◽  
Roberto Sommariva ◽  
Francis D. Pope ◽  
William J. Bloss
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Cold Start ◽  
Urban Air Quality ◽  
Monitoring Data ◽  
Urban Air ◽  
Ambient Monitoring ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals The smart grid as commons: Exploring alternatives to infrastructure financialisation

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 1386-1403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hall ◽  
Andrew EG Jonas ◽  
Simon Shepherd ◽  
Zia Wadud
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Smart Grid ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Electricity Grid ◽  
Common Ownership ◽  
Electricity Grids ◽  
The Uk

This article explores a tension between financialisation of electricity infrastructures and efforts to bring critical urban systems into common ownership. Focusing on the emerging landscape of electricity regulation and e-mobility in the United Kingdom (UK), it examines how electricity grid ownership has become financialised, and why the economic assumptions that enabled this financialisation are being called into question. New technologies, such as smart electricity meters and electric vehicles, provide cities with new tools to tackle poor air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity grids are key enabling infrastructures but the companies that run them do not get rewarded for improving air quality or tackling climate change. UK government regulation of electricity grids both enables financialisation and forecloses opportunities to manage the infrastructure for wider environmental and public benefit. Nonetheless, the addition of smart devices to this network – the ‘smart grid’ – opens up an opportunity for common ownership of the infrastructure. Transforming the smart grid into commons necessitates deep structural reform to the entire architecture of infrastructure regulation in the UK.

scholarly journals Effects of halogens on European air-quality

2017 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 75-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sherwen ◽  
M. J. Evans ◽  
R. Sommariva ◽  
L. D. J. Hollis ◽  
S. M. Ball ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
The North ◽  
Halogen Chemistry ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Regional Air Quality ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Quality Policy

Halogens (Cl, Br) have a profound influence on stratospheric ozone (O3). They (Cl, Br and I) have recently also been shown to impact the troposphere, notably by reducing the mixing ratios of O3 and OH. Their potential for impacting regional air-quality is less well understood. We explore the impact of halogens on regional pollutants (focussing on O3) with the European grid of the GEOS-Chem model (0.25° × 0.3125°). It has recently been updated to include a representation of halogen chemistry. We focus on the summer of 2015 during the ICOZA campaign at the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory on the North Sea coast of the UK. Comparisons between these observations together with those from the UK air-quality network show that the model has some skill in representing the mixing ratios/concentration of pollutants during this period. Although the model has some success in simulating the Weybourne ClNO2 observations, it significantly underestimates ClNO2 observations reported at inland locations. It also underestimates mixing ratios of IO, OIO, I2 and BrO, but this may reflect the coastal nature of these observations. Model simulations, with and without halogens, highlight the processes by which halogens can impact O3. Throughout the domain O3 mixing ratios are reduced by halogens. In northern Europe this is due to a change in the background O3 advected into the region, whereas in southern Europe this is due to local chemistry driven by Mediterranean emissions. The proportion of hourly O3 above 50 nmol mol−1 in Europe is reduced from 46% to 18% by halogens. ClNO2 from N2O5 uptake onto sea-salt leads to increases in O3 mixing ratio, but these are smaller than the decreases caused by the bromine and iodine. 12% of ethane and 16% of acetone within the boundary layer is oxidised by Cl. Aerosol response to halogens is complex with small (∼10%) reductions in PM2.5 in most locations. A lack of observational constraints coupled to large uncertainties in emissions and chemical processing of halogens make these conclusions tentative at best. However, the results here point to the potential for halogen chemistry to influence air quality policy in Europe and other parts of the world.

scholarly journals Localism and the environment: A critical review of UK Government localism strategy 2010–2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Eagle ◽  
Aled Jones ◽  
Alison Greig
Keyword(s):  
Energy Policy ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Central Government ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Economic Innovation ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk

From 2010 to 2015, the UK coalition government sought to reduce the influence of central government and follow a strategy of localism. Devolution, bringing people closer to democratic process and strengthening communities, became a key point of emphasis. The belief was that localism and devolution would empower socially, help instigate economic innovation and lead to the establishment of greener, more environmentally conscious behaviour. The findings of this paper challenge this rationale. Through an analysis of community energy policy, this paper highlights how the strategy of localism that emerged during the coalition government’s tenure, did not allow pro-environmental schemes, such as community energy, to flourish. The significant scaling back of state funding and structure, which became a feature of the coalition government’s approach to localism, restricts the ability and desire for communities to positively affect their surroundings. It is the recommendation of this paper that future governments should look to emerging ‘eco-localism’ literature, and establish a model of localism that moves away from existing neoliberal perspectives of governance.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document